Theory, practice and policy: A longitudinal study of university knowledge exchange in the UK

This article examines the progress of university knowledge exchange in the United Kingdom over a decade, linking theory, practice and policy. As indicated by the literature, the performance of university knowledge exchange is influenced by institutional and locational characteristics. Data on 133 UK universities between 2003–2004 and 2012–2013 are used in the empirical analysis, which confirms the important roles of institutional (established vs. new) and locational (competitive vs. uncompetitive) characteristics of universities. Nevertheless, it is found that the current policy approach in the United Kingdom fails to consider the heterogeneity of the higher education sector. This is problematic given that a substantial amount of funding has been committed to boosting university knowledge exchange over the past 20 years. In addition, the results suggest that the knowledge exchange policy should not be implemented alone; rather, it should be developed in conjunction with industrial and innovation policies.